


Fixing Something Before It's Broken

by nweeks3



Category: Law & Order: SVU
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-21
Updated: 2020-04-04
Packaged: 2021-02-28 21:01:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,894
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23243692
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nweeks3/pseuds/nweeks3
Summary: In a collaboration with newwriter2017, When Amanda and Declan's marriage is on the rocks, they must figure out how to make amends before it's too late. Meanwhile, their daughter, Jesse has her first sleepover.
Relationships: Declan Murphy/Amanda Rollins





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Originally this story was going to be another Pitch Perfect fanfic. But seeing as how another Facebook friend of mine has been into SVU, she and I teamed up and worked together to make this an SVU fanfic. Basically from the original version, the character names had to be changed to accommodate the SVU fandom. Enjoy this because I don't plan to write anymore SVU fics in the future since I have little to no knowledge of the show. The first story in My Complete Pitch Perfect Story - Part 6 goes up after this story.
> 
> Set in early October 2018

One Thursday at about 5pm, Liv and Peter Stone were driving home.

"Wow, what a long day that was." Liv said.

"You said it. I almost feel like going out to dinner tonight." Peter said.

"Well, McDonald's is a few blocks away. Want to go there?" Liv asked.

"Sure." Peter said.

As the couple began to drive across a bridge, Liv spotted Declan curled up in a ball crying.

She knew something must've been wrong, so she pulled over to talk to him.

"Declan?" Liv asked as she sat down beside him.

"(sniffles) Hey, Liv." Declan said, tearfully.

"What's wrong?" Liv asked, concerned.

"It's awful." Declan said.

"What is it?" Liv asked.

"Amanda wants a divorce." Declan said, crying on Liv's lap.

"Why? I thought you two were doing well together." Liv said.

"I thought so too...until she suddenly thought I'm unfit to be a father." Declan said, tearfully.

"What?! Did she say ``why?" Liv asked.

"No. I ran out the door of our house crying as soon as she said those words." Declan explained.

"I'm so sorry. Maybe I could talk to her for you." Liv offered.

"You'd really do that?" Declan asked.

"Of course. You and I may have been grown apart when we went to different colleges, but I never forgot about you." Liv said.

"That's good to hear. Because I personally don't want my marriage to end in divorce." Declan said, worried.

"What are you going to do?" Liv asked.

"The way I see it, I have two options: Sign the papers...or commit suicide." Declan said.

"NOOOOO! Don't do the latter. Please, Declan, you have a long life ahead of you. Not only that, but think of how many people will be devastated if you were to throw your life away." Liv explained.

"Well, when you put it that way..." Declan started.

"See; I knew you'd understand. Let me talk to Amanda, okay." Liv said.

"Okay." Declan said as Liv went back to her car.

"Peter, can you and Noah stay here with Declan while I go talk to Amanda?" Liv asked.

"Sure thing. But don't be long okay." Peter said.

"I shouldn't be more than an hour." Liv said as her husband and son got out the car and she continued to drive away from the bridge.

* * *

At Declan and Amanda's house, Amanda was sitting on the couch watching TV when someone knocked on the door.

She answered the door to find Liv looking at her frowning.

"Oh...hello, Liv." Amanda said, curious as to why Liv looked furious.

"We need to talk!" Liv said, angrily.

"Sure. Come on in." Amanda said, as Liv did so.

"I found your husband crying by the nearby bridge." Liv explained as she joined Amanda on the couch.

"What's this all about?" Amanda asked.

"Why would you make the unilateral decision that he's unfit to be a father?" Liv asked.

"How exactly do I put this? Ever since I got pregnant, I've been bugging Declan to find a job. Since then, he's applied to eight different places. Five of them, he got called for interviews. But he didn't get into any of those places." Amanda explained.

"Can't you give him credit for at least TRYING to get a job?" Liv asked.

"Yes. But raising children is expensive." Amanda said.

"I understand. But did he ever tell you in all the years you were together that HE HAS AUTISM?!" Liv yelled.

Hearing those words stunned Amanda like this was the first she ever heard this information.

"Oh...Um...No...He never told me that. What kind of a wife am I?" Amanda said, suddenly feeling ten times guiltier.

"It's true. I've known the guy since high school." Liv added.

"Oh, Liv...what do I do? I gotta make things right with him?" Amanda asked.

"I suggest we get in my car and you go talk to him. You'll know exactly how to make things right." Liv said.

"You're right, Liv. Lead the way." Amanda said as the two left the house and got into Liv's car.

* * *

Back at the bridge...

"I hope she gets back soon." Peter said, worried.

Suddenly Liv and Amanda arrived.

"Declan!" Amanda said as she exited the passenger's seat of Liv's car.

"Amanda!" Declan said running over to his wife as the couple hugged.

"Honey, I'm so sorry I called you unfit to be a father." Amanda said.

"I'm so glad you said that because...I don't want our marriage to end in divorce. I know you want me to have a job, and I promise I won't give up. I'll be a good husband for you and a good father for Jesse." Declan assured her.

"Good. Though there's just one thing I want to ask...why didn't you ever tell me you have autism?" Amanda asked.

"Because all those years you and I were together, it didn't really bother me. Furthermore, it's not something I'd make public on the internet." Declan explained.

"How about from now until our daughter is born, I help you with your job applications." Amanda suggested.

"I'd like that very much." Declan said, smiling.

"You know, Declan, I know one place you could work at." Liv started.

"Where?" Declan asked.

"My friend Casey just had to fire her secretary at her law firm. Maybe you could be her new secretary." Liv suggested.

"You should give it a try, sweetie. If you get the job, you might like it." Amanda said, encouraging her husband.

"How about you call me in the morning about the details." Declan suggested to Liv.

"Sounds like a plan. Later, guys." Liv said as she, Peter, and Noah got back in Liv's car and drove off to McDonald's.

After they drove away...

"I love you, Declan." Amanda said holding her husband's hands.

"I love you too, Amanda." Declan said as the two shared a kiss.

"I think Jesse would like it if you have a job. I know that you've been a stay at home dad, but we both agree that having a job would be a great thing for you. I mean, they're not allowed to discriminate against you if you have special needs." Amanda said.

"Here's the thing, darling. Most of my friends that have special needs don't have jobs. But I don't know much about their personal lives and how being unemployed affects them. I just know that they have tried, some of them got interviews at some places, but they never got hired. We have been friends since elementary school and we have faced discrimination." Declan admitted to his pregnant wife.

Amanda wished that she could do something to help Declan's friends but she couldn't figure it out.

Just then, Declan and Amanda looked up and noticed storm clouds coming.

"Come on, babe. Let's get home before it starts to rain." Amanda said.

"Way ahead of you." Declan said as the couple walked back to their house.


	2. Chapter 2

When they reached the front door of their house, Amanda realized that Declan kept the keys in his pocket when he ran out earlier.

"Babe, can you unlock the door for us?" Amanda asked as Declan took the key out and opened the front door.

"So what would you like for dinner?" Declan asked.

"Hmmm, I'm kind of in the mood for pasta." Amanda said.

"My weekly day program has cooking classes and other life skills classes so they taught me how to make pasta, so I think that can be arranged." Declan said as he went into the kitchen.

"How about we pop in a movie after dinner?" Amanda suggested.

"Sounds like a plan." Declan said he started to cook the sauce.

"So what are you going to do about your day program once you get a job?" Amanda asked.

"Not sure right now. But I'll figure something out once I get hired." Declan said.

"Don't you have a job coach?" Amanda asked.

"I do. I'll ask her." Declan said.

"Good. She might be able to help." Amanda said.

While he was cooking, their three year old daughter Jesse, just came home from a playdate with a classmate. After Jesse came in through the front door, she went into the living room and saw Amanda sitting on the couch while Frannie was asleep on her big girl bed.

"Hi, Mommy." Jesse said.

"Hey, sweetie." Amanda said, hugging her daughter.

"Where's Daddy?" Jesse asked.

"He's in the kitchen cooking dinner. How was school today?" Amanda asked.

"It was a good day today." Jesse said.

"Did anything happen today at school?" Amanda asked.

"Just another day of fun." Jesse said.

"That's always good. Did you have a good playdate with Chrissie today?" Amanda asked.

Chrissie and Jesse have been best friends since two weeks into the school year. And they've had weekly playdates at each other's houses since then.

"Yes, Mommy." Jesse said.

"Good." Amanda said.

"Chrissie wants to know if she can spend the night here sometime." Jesse said.

"You mean, like, have a sleepover?" Amanda asked.

"Yeah. Can she?" Jesse asked.

"Maybe this weekend you two can have your sleepover." Amanda said.

"Okay. I'll tell her at school tomorrow." Jesse said.

"Maybe we can find matching sleeping bags and pajamas." Amanda suggested.

Jesse smiled at the idea and asked her mother if she and Chrissie could tag along to help pick out the sleeping bags and pajamas. This way, they could see what they would look like before Amanda bought them.

"We'll discuss it with Chrissie and her mother before school tomorrow." Amanda said.

"Okay." Jesse said, smiling at the possibility that she and her best friend could soon be having their first ever sleepover.

Jesse and Chrissie both agreed that their first sleepover is something they want to remember forever.

Dinner was ready minutes later, so after Declan plated the pasta, he called Amanda and Jesse to the kitchen for dinner. They sat down and Amanda smelled the food. While they were at the dinner table, Jesse told Declan about how she may be having her very first sleepover soon. He was so happy for her.

"Daddy, do you do sleepovers with your friends?" Jesse asked.

"Well, maybe when I was much younger I did. But not anymore." Declan said.

"Why not?" Jesse asked.

"Well, people grow out of doing specific things at a certain point in their life." Declan explained.

"What about you, Mommy?" Jesse asked.

"Well, before I got pregnant with you, I would often have a ladies night out with my friends. But we never had actual sleepovers during those." Amanda explained.

"Mommy, next time, you should sleepover at Auntie Liv's house and then Daddy can have his friends over for a sleepover." Jesse told her mommy.

"I'll see if some of my friends are up to it or not." Declan said.

"Babe, your friends either have down syndrome, autism, learning disabilities…" Amanda explained, before being cut off.

"I get the point, babe. But I can still ask them if they'd be up to it." Declan said.

"I'm sure that they would like that. Can we eat now?" Amanda asked as the family did so.


	3. Chapter 3

Two days later at about 6pm, Chrissie and her mom arrived at Declan and Amanda's house. Chrissie was carrying an overnight bag her mom packed when the two showed up at the front door.

Chrissie's mom rang the doorbell and Amanda answered.

"Hey, Chrissie, Ruth." Amanda said, greeting them.

"Hey, Amanda. Thanks for inviting Chrissie to sleep over with Jesse tonight. She is so excited." Ruth said.

"I can tell by that big smile. Now, I have your number in case there's an emergency." Amanda said.

"Right. And I packed her an overnight bag with her pajamas, sleeping bag, toothbrush, and whatever else she might need." Ruth said.

"Thanks, Ruth. The girls will have a lot of fun tonight. Jesse's really looking forward to this." Amanda said.

"Alright. In that case, Chrissie, you girls have fun, okay. Mommy will be back to pick you up tomorrow morning." Ruth said, giving her daughter a goodbye kiss.

"Bye, Mommy." Chrissie said before entering the house.

Amanda went inside with Jesse and Chrissie.

"So, what do you girls want to do first?" Amanda asked.

"Can you order us a pizza?" Jesse asked.

"Sure. Chrissie, do you like pepperoni?" Amanda asked.

"Yeah!" Chrissie said, excited.

"Alright. I'll order the pizza right now." Amanda said, grabbing her phone to place the order.

20 minutes later, the pizza arrived and the girls each ate two slices. Amanda put the other half of the pizza in the fridge for later.

"What should we do next, Jesse?" Chrissie asked.

"You want to watch a movie?" Jesse asked.

"Yeah. Can we watch Frozen?" Chrissie asked.

"Sure." Jesse said as she asked her mother to find their DVD of the movie.

After Amanda put the DVD in their DVD player, she grabbed the remote and started the movie for them.

During the movie, the girls sang along with each one of the songs. And during 'Do You Want to Build a Snowman?', Chrissie had the idea of wanting to build one with Jesse next winter. Jesse liked the idea because she thought it would be a nice step up from always making snow angels the past two winters. Two hours later, the movie ended and the girls got their pajamas ready and took their sleeping bags out.

"I'm really a fun time with you, Chrissie." Jesse said.

"You too, Jesse." Chrissie agreed.

"Just think; maybe we can have more of these sometime." Jesse suggested.

"Okay. Maybe when we go back to school on Monday, we can talk about when we want to have our next sleepover." Chrissie suggested.

"I'd like that very much." Jesse said.

Amanda came into Jesse's room and noticed it was empty before realizing that Jesse and Chrissie had their sleeping bags set up in the living room when Amanda came into the living room and saw that Jesse and Chrissie were getting comfortable.

"Jesse, Chrissie, what do we do before going to sleep?" Amanda asked.

"We brush teeth." Jesse remembered.

"Exactly." Amanda said as the two girls went into the bathroom to do so.

When they came back, they got cozy in their sleeping bags and went to sleep.

"Good night, Jesse." Chrissie said.

"Good night, Chrissie." Jesse said as Amanda turned off the living room light before headed up to her and Declan's bedroom for the night.

"How's the job search going?" Amanda asked.

"Well, I'm waiting to hear back from Casey to see if I'll get an interview for that job opening Liv was mentioning." Declan said.

"I'm so sorry for being so selfish two days ago." Amanda said.

"Thanks. Though there is one thing I didn't tell you that day…" Declan said.

"Yeah?" Amanda asked.

"When you scared me into thinking it was over, I thought there was only one way out of signing divorce papers." Declan recapped.

"And that is?" Amanda asked.

"Committing suicide." Declan said, prompting a shocked look on Amanda's face.

"What?! No, babe; I would never want you to try to end your life." Amanda admitted.

"Well, now that you know about my autism and everything's okay, I don't have suicidal thoughts anymore." Declan said.

"I'm glad. I'm happy that I changed my mind about divorce. Because the thought of telling Jesse and our soon to be born daughter about something like that would traumatize them." Amanda realized.

"If you still have those divorce papers, rip them up or flush them down the toilet." Declan suggested.

"Or better yet, I'll take them back to my lawyer on Monday so someone else can use them. I left them blank. Can you get me something to drink please?" Amanda asked.

"Sure. Water?" Declan offered.

"Sounds good to me." Amanda said as Declan got up and went to the kitchen to look for a glass to fill with water before returning to the bedroom.

"Here you go, babe. Drink up." Declan said.

"Thanks. I am so thirsty." Amanda said before quickly drinking the water.

"Slow down on the water." Declan said.

"I can't help being thirsty." Amanda said.

"Well, if you drink too fast, you'll probably end up waking up in the middle of the night." Declan pointed out.

"Babe, I get up in the middle of the night anyways. I pee every two hours." Amanda fired back.

"Oh, yeah...right." Declan realized.

"Let's just get some sleep before we keep the girls awake." Amanda said.

"Okay. Good night, Amanda." Declan said, turning off the bedroom lamp.

"Good night, Declan." Amanda said as the couple went to sleep.

* * *

Two months later on a snowy Saturday, Jesse and Chrissie could be seen in Declan and Amanda's front yard bundled up in hats, coats, gloves, and scarves. The two girls remembered when they talked about building a snowman during their first sleepover. So they figured with the amount of snow on the ground, they could actually try building one. They had so much fun while doing so. Declan and Amanda could be seen on the porch smiling as they watched the two best friends have fun out in the snow. One thing's for sure, Amanda realized that being married to someone with autism can be a challenge, but it doesn't change the fact that the couple loved each other through thick and thin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And there you have it. Hope you enjoyed this because (for the time being) I don't plan to write anymore SVU fics (especially to this day I have not seen a single episode). Big props to newwriter2017 for her help on this story. Pitch Perfect fanfictions resume next week.

**Author's Note:**

> Don't be deceived; this was originally a one-shot. But now this'll be 3 chapters long. Find out what happens next week.


End file.
